Foxconn has apologized to workers at its largest iPhone factory, where protests and clashes with law enforcement took place on Wednesday. Foxconn blames technical problems in its payment systems and says all employees will receive their bonuses. Foxconn produces more than 150 million iPhones a year and has 800,000 employees.

​Hundreds of workers protested at China’s largest Foxconn factory on Wednesday, with videos showing clashes with law enforcement. The Zhengzhou factory employs 200,000 people and is the largest iPhone maker.

• VIDEO Unprecedented protests and clashes with law enforcement officers at the world’s largest iPhone factory

The situation calmed down, and Foxconn apologized to workers and said people had not received their bonuses because of “technical errors” in its pay systems.

CNN reports that Foxconn would offer recalcitrant workers money, more than $1,400 per person, to leave the factory and let the tension go away. The company initially denied it had been unfair to workers, but a day later said it would pay the bonuses promised in the original contracts, bonuses it then refused to give (or when it required workers to work harder for the money). .

The situation calmed down on Thursday, but the press reported that many employees who went to the station were unable to buy train tickets home.

Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and the main manufacturer of the iPhone. Reuters cites Jefferies Research estimates that in 2019 Foxconn produced 45% of all iPhones, while in 2021 this share reached 70%.

In numbers, Foxconn is estimated to have produced 107 million iPhones in 2019 and 166 million in 2021. Estimates are that no more than 150 million will be produced this year, and the total could again exceed 160 million iPhones in 2019. 2024. However, we are talking about estimates because neither Apple nor Foxconn are reporting numbers.

Apple plans to reduce its reliance on Chinese manufacturing, but it is NOT a fast track.

Sources: Reuters, CNN, BBC